Unit 11.03.06 | Yale National Initiative®

Spotlight: The Shows and their Freedom

Oklahoma!

Oklahoma! (1943) is one of my first choices for a socially relevant musical because it weaves many prevalent trends of Broadway into one romantic story that seems familiar to many audiences. Its employment of nostalgia is a characteristic familiar to many musicals throughout the twentieth century and beyond, working very deliberately to create and glorify a national identity from times long gone. Specifically, Oklahoma! develops the identity of the pioneering individual, free to start a new life, and free from foreign agents who might inhibit his newly found sense of autonomy. I especially like the idea of starting this unit with Oklahoma! because, like my students at the beginning of any unit, Old West America and World War America were still developing a vocabulary with which to define American freedom. This musical will serve as an easy introduction to how student will analyze a musical and its relationship to the time in which it was written, offering a more straightforward plot and fairly transparent characters. The Old West derives connotations of an iconic America, a distancing from "real life" that may encourage students to comment on freedom more easily, without the fear of being historically inaccurate. Encourage students to continually evaluate the role of individual freedom, even outside of historical contexts, and how this freedom might be tested by social expectations (sometimes embodied by actual characters).

Oklahoma! not only represents one of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's most successful musicals, but also one of their most significant in terms of its contributions to musical style and reflection of nationalist ideals. Concerning form, Rodgers and Hammerstein perfect their ability to weave songs into the plotline. Sixteen years before, Hammerstein had experimented with the idea of allowing music to drive a plot or deepen a character with his work in Showboat. In this form, they employed the reprise to allow for reflection or scene/character juxtaposition. In many ways, this sense of juxtaposition transposed itself into American culture as audiences left singing tunes that placed their current social conditions in contrast to that of the musicals they patronized, starting a new means of social reflection.

Steeped in the remnants of the Depression and the on-going battle in World War II, Oklahoma! was developed in a time when American freedom, both domestically and internationally, was being threatened. As it is so frequently done, in times of crisis, especially when Americans seek to exercise their freedom from (in this case, foreign control and economic ruin), audiences look to the past with the hopes of restoring a lost freedom. Knapp comments about Friedrich Schiller's perspectives: "From the vantage point of an imperfect present, we may look forward to a return to this alignment [of ideals], …and it is the poet/artist who articulates our position and attitude." ¹ ³ This sense of nostalgia for a lost ideal is employed by American musicals throughout the twentieth century; Grease (1971) took post-Vietnam America back to its 1950s poodle-skirts-and-leather-jackets roots. Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) returned Broadway to its former flapper glory, mimicking the "Cinderella" musicals about a genuine girl who hopes to find love and prosperity in marriage. ¹ ⁴ Oklahoma! is no different in its regard to a historical period which Americans believe significant to their national identity: the Old West. Evidenced by the popularity of John Wayne and the Western film from the late 1930s to 1950s, America regarded the West as a nostalgic celebration of its search for individual freedom and prosperity. Manifest Destiny demanded the expansion of American democracy to the west, an ideal that inevitably allowed for American settlers to move westward with the hopes of starting a new life and gaining a renewed sense of freedom. Pioneer culture embodied the freedom to financial independence (partially through property ownership), a liberty not to be taken for granted by a generation that saw the stock market crash just over fifteen years previous. Financial independence that simply seemed like a want in the decadence of 1920s Broadway shifted to being a need necessary for American life. The promise of the West gave American's the freedom to start anew. Especially regarding the Dust Bowl years of the Midwest,

Oklahoma!, with its mix of hopeful and playful songs partly eclipsing America's memory of a devastated landscape and displaced multitude of people, quickly became a vital component in building and maintaining America's resolve during the height of its involvement in World War II, and in providing it afterward with the confidence and energy to help rebuild a world ravaged by years of war. ¹ ⁵

With a strong sense of freedom to hope for a better tomorrow, wartime America looked back to the West as a reminder of times of economic independence (and possibly even as a starting point to America's prominence as a world power). The concept of Manifest Destiny juxtaposed with the threat of foreign invaders imposing their own brand of destiny brought to head the question of America's treatment of the "other." What was formerly a country bent on the Unionization of territories was now forced to reflect on its transgressions as Axis powers threatened a similar takeover, this time with the U.S. on the wrong end. Yet, remnants of America's treatment of the "other" still remain in Oklahoma!'s portrayal of Haji Ali, the Persian peddler. Towards the end of Act I, Scene I, Ado Annie's father, Andrew Carnes, forces Ali Hakim at gunpoint to marry his daughter after discovering that the two have been spending time together. Ali Hakim laments the arranged marriage as an infringement of his freedom in the song, "It's a Scandal! It's an Outrage!" He sings:

¹⁶

Very much like the displaced Native Americans in Oklahoma, Ali Hakim finds his freedom to live according to his own standards violated by force. He alludes to an unsophisticated life of doughnuts, jugs, and cigars, a rhetoric common to the values of the West, serving as contrast to the urban, industrial steel production of audiences' wartime America. The contrast between the rural fictional and industrially-driven real-life settings are directly addressed with the song "Kansas City," evaluating modernization on the height of buildings (a skyscraper seven stories high-/ About as high as a buildin' orta grow) and, cheekily, the apparent sophistication of theater ("a big theayter they call burleeque./ Fer fifty cents you c'n see a dandy show." ¹ ⁷ This rhetoric of a simpler time, free from war, is infused in many of Oklahoma!'s songs. "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" uses the imagery of "corn as high as en elephant's eye," cattle "standin' like statues," and "a weepin' willer…laughin'," to illustrate the simplicity of setting. The cultural value of the song's waltz form compliments these intentions: "…the waltz was by the early twentieth century being displaced by the two-step and ragtime, and its presence here would have thus seemed nostalgic for a simpler time, not only for the audience but also to some extent for the characters within the show." ¹ ⁸

Upon the grounds of this freedom to live a simpler life, we see the main social conflict between cowboys and farmers take root. Both want a simple life, unencumbered by the other: the cowman wanting open land to roam, and the farmer wanting the land for harvest. In the Act II opener, "The Farmer and the Cowman," Carnes sings of the paralleled simplicity, mentioning how "one likes to push a plow, / the other likes to chase a cow." He concludes, "the farmer and the cowman should be friends…territory folk should stick together," alluding to a peaceful co-existence referenced in many speeches regarding the "other." Woodrow Wilson comments, "America was created to unite mankind by those passions which lift and not by the passions which separate and debase." ¹ ⁹ The word choice of "The Farmer and the Cowman" is especially complimentary to Wilson's perspective as it focuses on the sharing of the West: "The cowman ropes a cow with ease,/ The farmer steals her butter and cheese." ² ⁰ The only "debasing" words in this song are made in jest, acknowledging a stereotype rather than a reality. One could even argue that this song suggests a peaceful compromise in American identity allowing for both the agricultural past/search for open spaces and the industrialized present/growth of cities that accompanied America's ascent to a world power. Knapp remarks:

We might call this particular strand of American mythology its "frontier brinkmanship": its ability to manage the threshold of its domain, to extend its purview carefully, wisely, and inclusively, and thereby negotiate the transition from wilderness to civilization, from lawless to law-abiding, from frontier to community, from territory to state, from fledgling nation to world power. ² ¹

The culmination of this union is confirmed with the final scene where audiences learn Curly, the lead cowman, has traded in his stirrups for a plow and a wife, and Oklahoma is finally a state. Knapp mentions the use of the "marriage trope to represent the merger of supposed incompatibilities," (i.e. the cowman and the farmer) as well as suggest the inclusiveness of America as a whole. "Oklahoma" bolsters American ideals of unity saying, "We know we belong to the land,/ And the land we belong to is grand!" ² ² Thus, in the shows final moments, the audiences of Oklahoma! are left with a sense of national unity and the hope for global unity.

West Side Story

West Side Story is a natural choice not only because of its status as Broadway canon but also because of its universal application addressing the freedom from prejudice. The transcendence of the story from its Shakespearian roots serves any time period with a cautionary tale that questions what sacrifices will need to be made to achieve a greater sense of freedom. Unlike Oklahoma!, West Side Story is more serious in tone. This shift will allow students to take the vocabulary of freedom acquired in previous lessons and apply it to a more realistic setting. In West Side Story, we see real people experiencing racial tensions that occurred at many points in history. In this part of the unit, encourage students to investigate how inclusive or exclusive is the American identity they defined in Oklahoma!. The freedom to belong to a community is divided in a local and national sense. Locally, the gang members of West Side Story feel that they are inclusive to their own kind but exclusive of others. The relationship of Tony and Maria, the Romeo and Juliet of this musical, suggests a more national sense of community, one inclusive of everyone, regardless of ethnic origin. Hence, the ultimate freedom fought for here is not simply the freedom to belong to a local community but a national community shared amongst a very diverse population.

With West Side Story (1957), Jerome Robbins intended to update William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to show prejudice in 1950s to 1960s America. Although originally posed as a conflict between Catholics and Jews in New York, West Side Story was changed to a Puerto Rican/Melting-Pot-American conflict, possibly out of the interests of universalism and avoiding a specific topicality and appearing dated decades later. ² ³ The underlying concerns of immigrant assimilation and racial ghettos fuel the hatred between two groups who are located at different points on America's timeline of immigration booms. Both the Sharks (Puerto Ricans) and Jets ("white" Americans) seek a sense of belonging in an America whose national identity had been reaffirmed with victories in Europe and Asia. In West Side Story, this search for belonging is afforded through gang culture. Riff, leader of the Jets, sings, "When you're a Jet./…you've got brothers around/…you're home with your own." ² ⁴ This desire for inclusion is then shown to require exclusion as the Jet gang continues to sing, "We're drawing the line,/ so keep your noses hidden!/ We're hangin' a sign/ Says 'Visitors forbidden'." ² ⁵

The duality of inclusion in versus exclusion from American ideals is carried over to the immigrant perspective in the Shark's song, "America." The lead Shark female, Anita, discusses the advantages of being in America versus Puerto Rico. It is important to note that Puerto Rico is considered part of the United States but is not a state. Very much like the nostalgic return to simpler ways in Oklahoma!, "America" starts as a reminder of the island's positive attributes: tropical breezes, pineapples, and coffee blossoms. However, Anita reverses the effect of this fond remembrance by casting her home in a negative light. Where Rosalia sees "hundreds of flowers in full bloom," Anita sees "Hundreds of people in each room." ² ⁶ Here, rather than viewing the past as an ideal from the perspective of an imperfect present, the Shark women, save Rosalia, see from the perspective of an imperfect past to place value on a better present. Their freedom to start anew has already begun; whereas, in Oklahoma!, it is a prospect for the future.

However, while immigrants like the Sharks may experience more freedom than in their homeland, they are still subject to racial prejudice. The song "Somewhere" most poignantly articulates the freedom from racial labels and the freedom to a peaceful co-existence. Sung by Tony and Maria (Arthur Laurents' Romeo and Juliet, Jet and Shark respectively) "Somewhere" envisions a utopian dream-like world, "somewhere there must be a place we can feel we're free,/ Somewhere there's got to be a place for you and for me." Imagery called for in the stage direction creates a chaotic world around a running Tony and Maria, as "figures of gangs, of violence, flail around them" only for the lovers to break through and discover a world with "no sides, no hostility now; just joy and pleasure and warmth." ² ⁷ Their dream world is once again destroyed by recreating the deaths of Bernardo and Riff. This nightmarish ending to an ideal world left West Side Story's post-war audiences wondering if such a level of freedom could ever exist in world where politics are overrun with the Red Scare and the fear of Communism. McCarthyism introduced a rhetoric aimed at identifying the "other" (Communist) in one's own home, an invader that threatened the very ideals of peace and freedom. What was once formerly a unified nation represented in Oklahoma! became a nation divided by paranoia and distrust of one's own neighbor.

The depth of how deep or shallow this divide between people could grow is never more evident in West Side Story than in the closing scenes. After the accidental death of Bernardo at the hands of Tony, Anita's perspective of America and the need for assimilation is changed. What was formerly a wishful acceptance of the American community transforms into a hatred for the country whose ideals killed her lover. "A Boy Like That" explains Anita's deepened skepticism in a peaceful co-existence: "A boy like that who'd kill your brother,/ Forget that boy and find another!/ One of your own kind-/ stick to your own kind." ² ⁸ This song acts as an eerie foreshadow to Tony's shooting, where Chino, a fellow Shark, hunts down Tony out of rage for Bernardo's death and Maria's courtship. Most relevant to audiences of any era is the closing image of Jets and Sharks joining together to mourn alongside Maria. In this last tableaux, shared remorse unites the two gangs, foreshadowing the possibility of freedom from racial prejudice whilst also asking at what cost. Years after West Side Story, America, like Maria, would discover the cost of this freedom as the Civil Rights Movement confronted similar prejudices with tragic results.

Hair

In contrast to the universal implications intended by Laurents' West Side Story, "Hair's content and vocabulary, encapsulating the look, sound, and feel of the late 1960s, tied the musical more to its moment in history than perhaps any other in the annals of Broadway." ² ⁹ Tied closely to the period in which it was produced, Hair addresses the growing schism experienced between a younger, more liberal generation's and an older conservative, seemingly out-of-touch generation's concept of freedom in America.

Often staging scenes with hippies in conflict with their parents, teachers, or government officials, Hair demonstrates a shift in freedom away from a specific type of oppression towards a more general freedom from any type of authority. By this point in the class, students will have a general idea of the types of freedoms needed in America as represented by musicals prior to Hair. Hair should make them question whether by the end of the 1960s these freedoms were still viable and if there were other freedoms left unexplored. The fragmented plot of Hair mimics the deconstruction of a formerly accepted national identity established by plays like Oklahoma! and West Side Story. In response, the hippie cast simply seeks a general freedom to choose their own definition of autonomy (the right to do whatever they want or need) and to see how far that freedom could reach.

Subtitled as "The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical," Hair (1967-8) represented an age of revolution in terms of its social content as well as general form and style. Hair utilized popular music styles, particularly rock, set to a narrative of what Knapp calls "a series of associated vignettes related to a central theme, with the barest hint of a storyline connecting them." ³ ⁰ By breaking from the linear model of storytelling, and incorporating non-traditional Broadway music, Hair explored freedom by questioning the authority of systems in place, both on Broadway and in Washington. At its core, Hair aimed to make mainstream audiences aware of the principles of counterculture, with the hopes of starting its own movement. Knapp suggests that the cultural authority the show acquired as its songs climbed the Billboard charts is demonstrative of the shows impact in progressing the hippie movement. ³ ¹ ³ ²

The questioning of authority widely subscribed by youths in the late 1960s leads Hair to a focus on topics relevant to their lives. Sex and drugs were representative of the spirit of "openness" to new experiences. The songs "Black Boys" and "White Boys" discuss the appeal of each in the perspective of a free love Tribe member. I must note that while I feel this theme is relevant to the time period, it is probably best avoided in the classroom for age appropriateness. Regarding drug use, one could argue that the fragmented nature of the show mimics the hallucinogenic experiences of its characters. Again, concerning content in the classroom, I would be hesitant to highlight this theme, and hence, I will not provide further investigation. However, one of the probably more relevant and politically-linked themes is the Vietnam War. Claude, a member of the Tribe who is reluctant to burn his draft card because of the expectations placed on him by conservative parents, is sent to fight, and serves as a representation of counterculture's treatment of war. More generally, the hippie movement preached peace, and hence the Tribe in Hair demonstrates the same reluctance. "My Conviction" speaks of the freedom qualified on not bringing harm to others: "I wish every mother and father in this theater would go home and make a speech to their teenagers and say: ['] Kids, be free, no guilt, be whoever you are, do whatever you do, just as long as you don't hurt anyone.'" ³ ³ The direct-address to the audience implicates the spectator in the action on stage, inviting them to a similar freedom to protest. In "What a Piece of Work is Man," the Tribe questions man's relationship to "The beauty of the world." Allusions to the earth and the air, described in mimic Shakespeare ³ ⁴ as the "goodly frame" and "excellent canopy," are juxtaposed with a "foul and pestilent congregation of vapor" arising from the destruction of nature in war. ³ ⁵ Very much like the ending of West Side Story, the final scenes of Hair problematize freedom in terms of violence. We discover that Claude has died in battle and must choose an action to take. The show's final number invites audiences to "Let the Sunshine In," hoping that Americans will chose to face their discontent with the government with peace. The use of death to demonstrate the pointlessness of violence and war draws on the same sense of optimism we feel when we see Jets and Sharks standing together. With this sense of disappointment in current times comes a new regard for hope. Yet with this discontent for society to its politics, John Bush Jones reminds us:

there is nothing in the songs, script, or staging that indicates the kids are un- or anti-American, collectively or individually. Rather, they are saddened by much of what American has become – material values replacing moral values, for example –and they plead for a return to those values beneficial to both society at large and to the dignity of each individual. ³⁶

Hence, not only does Hair make audiences aware of their freedom from government control, but also reassure a sense of autonomy and unity that transcends government, a currency similar to the inalienable rights of man.

Urinetown

Urinetown (2001) is a great example of a modern musical that offers social reflection because of its awareness of the consumerist society in which it was produced. It is a satire that not only critiques the form of a typical Broadway musical (breaking into song and dance yet somehow never aware of an audience) but also the late twentieth century society that was responsible for some of the most expensive musical productions to ever hit the Great White Way. Less than a decade after Disney inaugurated corporate sponsorship to Broadway (see Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King) and the same year that The Producers offered $500 premium seats, Urinetown asked audiences whether society's tendency to spend more and more was a freedom or a curse. For this reason, I think Urinetown presents something unique to classrooms because it poses the idea that perhaps the "freedom to" which seemed so empowering in other musicals (and for a vast majority of its own plot) could actually be detrimental to society. I especially like this musical as the final focus to the unit because its questions the value of freedom and whether there should be limitations to restrict the extent of freedom. While Hair required unencumbered freedom, Urinetown will ask students whether America has demanded and been given too much freedom.

A story that more directly addresses government control, Urinetown shows the poor population of Urinetown forced to "pay-to-pee" at public amenities by a monopolistic corporation, run by Caldwell B Caldwell, that has outlawed private toilets because they consume too much water (Urinetown is in a twenty-year drought). To pee in private or outdoors is an offense punishable by "exile." Inevitably, the poor population revolt against the growing prices and strict laws that prevent them from peeing whenever and wherever they want. In the struggle of Bobby Strong and his poor compatriots, audiences see an everyman hero who fights for his individual rights, represented simply as the ability to urinate without paying a fee. The catalyst for dramatic conflict is similar to the justifications for the American Revolution: a freedom from unlawful taxation, and the freedom to basic human needs. In his revolution speech, Bobby preaches, "no man would be denied his essential humanity due to the condition of his pocketbook." ³ ⁷ The use of "essential humanity" to represent free urination echoes the sentiment of natural rights in the Enlightenment thought that influenced America's founding fathers to write of "inalienable rights" in the Declaration of Independence. By comparison, the "fee to pee" taxes seem trivial yet patronizingly similar to the taxes enacted during the years leading up to the American Revolution. The connection of these two revolutions suggests that spectators apply the gravitas of the American Revolution to the revolt in Urinetown. In terms of the modern audiences who viewed Urinetown, the citizens exercise their freedom from oppressive capitalism/government.

The essential humanity in the contexts of the show is the ability to urinate without paying a fee, but the larger implications extend to the general population being able to spend their money however they please. The freedom from oppressive capitalism also ironically allows for the freedom to spend money however citizens see fit. The use of a basic bodily function shifts the rhetoric of consumerism and spending from a want, something luxurious but unnecessary to life, to a need, something essential, an inherent freedom of all people. This sentiment is echoed once the battle is won, with Caldwell's daughter and Bobby's love interest, Hope Caldwell, speaking of the unity achieved with this renewed freedom to spend:

Now is a new day when each of us, regardless of race, creed, class, or criminal history, can come together as one people and share the fruits of our labor as one. Now is the dawning of a new age of compassion and the right to do whatever you like, whenever you like, with whomever you like, in whatever location you like. ³ ⁸

While this can be read with socialist undertones ("share the fruits of our labor as one"), I would argue that the true unity Hope speaks of is achieved through the shared experience of consuming, rather that the literal sharing of the product. In fact, Urinetown makes very little mention of there ever being a shared product of labor. In the last pages of the musical, Josephine says, "Such a fever. If only I had a cool tall glass of water…" to which Hope retorts, "But don't you see, Mrs. Strong? The glass of water's inside you; it always has been." ³ ⁹ This suggests that the product is less important than the act of consuming; the potential to purchase water has always been there, the only problem is that there is not product to fulfill this need to consume.

The same way that Hair discusses Americans' freedom to choose however they want to live is echoed in the words "the right to do whatever you like, whenever you like, with whomever you like, in whatever location you like." The primary difference between the 1960s and turn of the millennium is that the general freedom to choose of the 60s has become a more focused need, centralized around consumerism. The ability to consume gives choice to the individual in the same way Hair asked, only choice is now tied to a monetary value, rather than something simply intrinsic. Americans can buy whatever they want, but must pay to get it. Rather than the government oppressing citizens by drafting soldiers and illegalizing narcotics, it manages its citizens' freedom by "controlling consumption through the regulating mechanism of cash," according to Caldwell. ⁴ ⁰ Hence, by overthrowing Caldwell, the citizens demolish any system that would limit their freedom to consume.

In the same regard, Urinetown also serves as an exploration of consumerism beyond the happy ending of freedom to spend according to one's own desires. Like West Side Story, it questions the cost of our freedom. In the Act I Finale, Bobby sings, "We're suffering now/ Such lives of sorrow!/ Don't give us tomorrow,/ Just give us today!" ⁴ ¹ While his comments place a sense of urgency at the end of Act I, they also very subtly hint that the citizens are more concerned with enjoying the fruits of present freedom than sustaining this freedom for the future. In Act 1, Scene 6, when Bobby is asked about he condition of the bathrooms after the citizens have seized control, he comments, "[There's] a little spillage, nothing to be concerned about. The people are happy, that's the main thing." ⁴ ² Bobby's words are met in direct opposition to Caldwell's retort later in the same song: "Think of tomorrow, Mister Strong!/ Our resources are as fragile/ as a newborn baby's skull!/ With your actions you would gut the child/ and leave a lifeless hull!" ⁴ ³

In the end, audiences find out that the unrestricted use of toilets led to the unsustainability of the already limited water supply of the town, leaving the townspeople in a worse condition than when the musical began. The narrator, Officer Lockstock, comments: "it wasn't long before the water turned silty, brackish, and then disappeared altogether. As cruel as Caldwell B. Caldwell was, his measures effectively regulated water consumption, sparing the town the same fate as the phantom Urinetown." ⁴ ⁴ Thus, unlike the other musicals in this unit, Urinetown asks whether a "freedom to" (consume) should be valued more than a "freedom from" (irresponsible capitalism). In the end, the government that was once perceived as limiting freedom is consequently posed as a power able to regulate the potentially unrestricted/excessive freedom of the individual. Writers Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis place the responsibility in the audience's hands in two quick lines:

LITTLE SALLY: I don't think too many people are going to come see this musical, Officer Lockstock.
Lockstock: Why do you say that, Little Sally? Don't you think people want to be told that their way of life is unsustainable?

Especially in the contexts of the turn of the millennium, this theme of unsustainable consumerism hit hard to Broadway audiences. Quality of life grew substantially over the past twenty years of the twentieth century, as televisions filled every house, the Internet allowed for more easy access to information, and cell-phones made contacting someone nearly instantaneous. Movies employed increasingly more special effects, pressuring Broadway to compete with a digitized viewing experience that could be repeated nearly every two hours for a much lower price. Imported "mega-musicals" like Cats, Les Miserables, and Phantom of the Opera competed with cinema blockbusters by incorporating their own level of spectacle and runs that went beyond the Broadway norm. Other theaters welcomed movie-to-musical adaptations such as The Lion King, Hairspray, and The Producers, with the hopes that cinematic success would transfer to Broadway success. Hence, not only did Urinetown question whether America as a whole was becoming too obsessed with consumerism but also that Broadway was contributing to this obsession. The fact that Urinetown was produced with a smaller set and significantly less spectacle should not go unnoticed.

The Idea of America

CONTENTS OF CURRICULUM UNIT 11.03.06

American Musicals, American Freedom

Spotlight: The Shows and their Freedom

Oklahoma!

West Side Story

Hair

Urinetown

Comments:

Donnie Stewart Voshell

Add a Comment